HOW B CORP IS BENEFITING OUR BUSINESS
When we became a B Corp in September 2023, MM-Eye joined a growing community of businesses worldwide that have achieved high social and environmental performance standards and are committed to using their business as a force for good. In the few weeks since becoming a B Corp, we have already seen the benefits of being part of a vibrant, positive community of like-minded businesses sharing the same values and seeking to drive positive change.
So, what is B Corp?
B Corp is an accreditation awarded to companies who have achieved high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability and meet targets across five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. There are almost 6,000 B Corps worldwide, and more than 1,500 of these are in the UK. We are very proud to have joined their ranks. In the UK, B Lab assesses a company’s achievement against a range of targets through a rigorous process resulting in a score. To remain a B Corp, a company must recertify in 3 years and show an improved score.
We began our B Corp journey in 2022 when we began the application process. In that time, we have seen three main business benefits to being part of the B Corp community:
- Renewed enthusiasm and motivation in our team;
- Attracting new staff in our recruitment campaigns;
- New business opportunities identified, specifically research and stakeholder engagement services tailored to support other B Corp companies.
Our Team
In preparing our B Corp application, we enhanced and recommitted to various staff welfare, well-being and training initiatives, which our staff enthusiastically engaged with and took ownership of, for example, our initiatives to achieving a net zero carbon footprint and improving engagement with our communities. We are now proud partners of Ecologi (also a B Corp) to help manage and offset our carbon footprint, and through our community action team we recently partnered with Hands on London to spend a day working on a nature conservation project at Wormwood Scrubs Park, West London.
Recruitment
We have recruited several new team members in the last year to support our ongoing growth. In a competitive recruitment environment, we felt our ethos of being a business driving positive change helped us to stand out from other recruiters, attracting quality candidates who share our values.
Tailored research services for B Corp companies: As a result of our experience applying for B Corp, we saw the potential for market research tools to make life easier for other companies embarking on their B Corp journey. We created online surveys to gather data and opinions from employees, customers and suppliers as evidence to support our B Corp application. These surveys are now available to be used by other companies applying for B Corp and for existing B Corps when they start their re-certification in 3 years or annual self-certification.
We also created a service to support companies through the Materiality Assessment process. This process helps companies prioritise areas where change will have the greatest impact, such as the environment, social impact, and governance (ESG). Our insight-driven Materiality Assessment service, embedding stakeholder engagement and insight tools at the heart of the process, ensures the company identifies and prioritises key initiatives that are of most significant importance to stakeholder groups.
We are keen to collaborate with other B Corp businesses and share our skills to benefit others. We also offer these services at a 10% discount on our usual day rate to B Corps and those companies applying for B Corp. If you want to learn more about our B Corp data collection surveys or our Materiality Assessment service, or indeed just want to chat about our B Corp journey, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to speaking to you soon.